NHS services face being ‘run ragged’ it was claimed this week following the announcement that £75 million worth of health cuts are to be made across east Lancashire.

The move could see £9.2 million wiped off acute and specialist care budgets, which pay for A&E and urgent care centres at Royal Blackburn and Burnley hospitals.

And a further £3.5 million in funding could be cut from community and mental healthcare as NHS East Lancashire bosses look to achieve a saving of £22 million over 2011 and 2012 – more than three per cent of its annual budget.

Major building projects – including a new health centre at Great Harwood – have also been shelved. Health bosses say they are hoping to meet the budget reductions through a combination of restructuring and efficiency programmes.

But they have admitted the savings required are ‘incredibly tough’. They are assessing more than 100 savings proposals put forward by staff and GPs and have even established a ‘Bright Ideas’ scheme, targeting efficiency savings such as turning off computers and car park lights at night.

Mr Ellis said: "The view of PCT staff in the community is that the service is being run ragged.

"There’s not been replacement of people who have been leaving and the service is threadbare. In terms of the acute trust we are very worried about the run down of a number of services."

Keith Hutson, regional officer of Unite, said: "NHS East Lancashire covers a lot of areas such as Accrington, Burnley, Nelson and Colne which have got a lot of deprivation.

"I’ve got very grave concerns if they’re going to cut £75 million. They tend to cut in areas of health that aren’t trendy – incubators on children’s wards will be fine, but services for mentally ill people will go.

"We are also concerned that they will spend more on acute services and less on community services, so there will be fewer district nurses, health visitors and mental health nurses."

Hyndburn’s Labour MP Graham Jones said: "The government promised that there would be no reductions in the NHS budget and they also promised there would be no cuts in frontline services. They say they are efficiency savings but most of them are cuts to frontline services.

"I’m concerned that they’re putting the health centre on the back burner because the current one is a very poor state and Great Harwood needs a new one."

Chris Dixon, director of finance at NHS East Lancashire, said: "We know that there will be little increase to NHS budgets for at least three years. This means that we must make the most of the resources we have. However, evidence from across the world tells us that it is possible to improve quality and efficiency at the same time, and that this can lead to improved services."

Nationally, the government promised to protect NHS budgets from public sector cuts, with a 0.4 per cent rise in real terms, but trusts are facing increased costs while primary care services are being restructured.

Huge savings are also required at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs acute services at Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals.

But Lynn Wissett, trust deputy chief executive, said: "The Trust is currently on track to meet its savings targets for this year. This work will continue into 2011, with our focus, as always, on giving patients the best possible care services."

Health chiefs have also claimed building a new health centre in Great Harwood in the current financial climate would be ‘financially irresponsible’.

Late last year NHS East Lancashire announced that plans for the community health centre at Albion Mill had been scrapped.

But with demolition of the derelict mill due to be completed in March campaigners were hopeful a smaller scheme would go ahead.

Mr Dixon said: "We have had to review the proposed schemes for Clitheroe Community Hospital, Colne Health Centre and Great Harwood Centre. NHS East Lancashire has now gone back to the drawing board and is working with the public, local GPs, and others to consider suitable, affordable alternatives."

The Great Harwood Community Action Group has invited an NHS representative to give an update at its next meeting on January 20.